Shanno's presser: Quick Hitters

Mike Bakas

11/10/2008

Randy Shannon addressed the media this afternoon. Here is some of what he talked about a few days before the Virginia Tech game.

* This is the same Va Tech team he's seen for the last several years. The defense is the same. They'll try to stop the run and make our receivers beat them. They like to run the ball on offense and they do a good job of winning the field position battle.

* VT likes to run the ball 30-40 times a game and throw it 15-22 a game.

* During the week off, the team worked a lot on having the corners come up and tackle. That's going to be very important on Thursday.

* We did a lot of 1 vs 1 work in practice lately.

* A big key in this game is not having negative plays. A 0-yard run is OK in this one. They just can't lose yards.

* Reggie Youngblood is playing ok but not where they need him yet. He did a real good job against Virginia when Jason Fox got hurt. He's started to get back into the full swing of things. Coach Stoutland has done a tremendous job with him.

* Youngblood had a chance to redshirt after the injury but he wanted to come back and help this team down the stretch. Shannon said it showed a certain character that they liked.

* "Everyone's healthy," he said. "Fox is the only one you don't know yet."

* Crowds have been solid this year but this isn't a college town and there are only 8,000 undergrads. If you average 50,000 per game, it says a lot about the fan base because there aren't that many alumni to be coming.

* Baby J has stepped up his leadership role this year and has helped the younger backs this season. He wants to do whatever it takes to win the game.

* James could have gone back in the game against Virginia but Coop was rested. They didn't want to risk it.

* Recruits are looking at a good opportunity here. They see coaches giving a lot of young kids good opportunities.